Arch-corrective shoe



April 19, 1938. w M CH L 2,114,505

ARCH CORRECTIVE SHOE Filed Jan. 10, 1935 6 17 E i I I I I f f I I i 4 A I A Patented Apr. 19, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARCH-CORRECTIVE SHOE William M. Scholl, Chicago, Ill.

Application January 10, 1936, Serial No. 58,457

3 Claims.

My invention relates to shoes for foot-corrective purposes, and has for its general objects to provide a novel and desirable shoe-construction especially suitable for use in the relief of weak 5 or fallen arches, and which may be made by an eflicient and advantageous method.

Sufferers with painful arch-conditions commonly wear what I may term stock arch-supports in stock shoes, in seeking relief, and even where only one foot is so affected it is common practice to wear such appliances in both shoes, to avoid the uneven effect or limp in walking that annoyingly results from wearing only one. One of the more specific objects of my invention is to so construct my improved shoes that wearing of a single arch-support is accommodated with little or no such uneven effect.

By stock shoes, as herein referred to, I allude to ready-made leather ones, internally contoured for good fit upon a normal foot of the size for which the shoes length and width are indicated by conventional standards; and what I term stock arch-supports are suitably stiffened or padded appliances (of which various specific constructions are commercially available) to be loosely inserted in the users shoes and to be positioned therein, in use, by coaction with the shoe and the foot; such an appliance being shaped in plan outline to underlie the foots width from a line just back of the ball of the foot to the rear of the heels under-surface, and the waist of the appliance having its inner side widened and arched upward, conformably with the curvatures of the foots longitudinal arch. Such appliances commonly run in sizes marked with the standard lengths and widths of corresponding shoe sizes; but while such stock arch-supports are commonly thinned at the forward edge to meet the shoes insole as smoothly as possible, and while the lacing or buttoning arrangement of the shoes upper will accommodate considerable variation in the arch-depth of the appliance at its waist without discomfort or making the shoe unsightly, the heel portion of the appliance, upon which its proper positioning in the shoe and its cooperative relation to the foot quite largely depend, is customarily of substantial thickness for requisite stiffness and durability (a thickness of about .125 of an inch being a reasonable commercial average), so that the wearers heel is lifted in the shoe materially above the level for which the contouring of the stock shoe is intended, with resultant disadvantages.

Even when stock shoes and arch-supports are simultaneously bought, difficulties in fitting such shoes, with the appliances in place, not in frequently result in conditions that militate seriously against the users comfort; against the sightly appearance of the footwear, and even against best functioning of the appliances to give the desired foot-relief; and more specific objects of my invention are to provide my improved shoes in a normal condition for sale that makes them fittable, regardless of whether or not stock arch-supports are to be worn therein, exactly as a corresponding-size of stock shoes would be; that gives them advantage in normally affording a certain amount of arch-supporting effect which tends to prevent occurrence of arch-troubles; and that permits of the substitution, at or after the time the shoes are purchased, of a stock arch support for the detachable dummy arch-supportive structure of either or both of the normal shoes, with minimal discomfort, shoe distortion, or other drawbacks.

Still another of my more specific objects is to provide in such shoes a construction that permits their production on the same lasts that are used in the making of corresponding sizes and styles of stock shoes, and that may, if desired, insure that any slight variation in the thickness of individual dummy arch-supports used in making up a quantity of the shoes, will not affect the internal contouring of the finished foot-wear.

To these ends, and for attaining other objects and advantages which will hereinafter become apparent, myimproved shoes have their foundation-structures-i. e., the permanently-united sole, heel, and upper-normally supplemented by detachable dummy arch-supports or lifts, the v upper surface of which forms part of the normal interior surface of the shoe that gives the lasted depth and internal contouring of a standard size of stock shoe; so that, when said dummy is removed, the foundation of the shoe affords an in- L ternal pocket or depression, throughout its heel and shank portions, wherein a stock arch-support may be inserted with but little, if any, undesirable effect on the fit, the appearance, or the comfort of the foot-wear. And, with respect to the manufacture of such shoes," the preferred structure herein set forth lends itself to production by a novel method that insures that the interior contouring of these special shoes of my invention, with the dummy arch-support in place, will exactly correspond with stock shoes of like last-sizes.

Further advantages of my invention will hereinafter become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein I have shown one desirable embodiment of and practice of my invention, including various details from which variation may be made within the scope of the appended claims, but which I have found in practice to give desirable results.

In the drawing,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing, in conventionalized fashion, a shoe cut away in longitudinal section and having a "dummy arch-support detachably secured in appropriate position therein; the visible part of said dummy having fragments broken away;

Fig. 2 shows in perspective a shoe-last suitable for use in making the construction shown in Fig. 1, in association with a broken-away part of the dummy; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a suitable "dummy, detached.

In the drawing, indicates in general the permanent body or foundation of the shoe, conventionalized in the showing of its sole H, shank l2, heel l3, and upper I4. As a matter of general styling appropriate for use in foot-relief cases, the laced, oxford type herein shown is desirable, with the counter portion I 5 of its upper well socketed and the top opening l6 of the upper well narrowed at its back, for snug, clinging engagement with the upper curves of the wearer's heelprotuberance.

I8 indicates in general an arch-support dummy, or removable lift, that normally is secured in place in the shoe body, and the top surfaces of which form part of the normal interior contouring of the merchantable shoe, giving it interiorly a stock shoe shape, substantially duplicating that of regular stock shoes of the same make and size.

This dummy, I8, simulates a stock arch-support in plan outline, and the depth or thickness of its heel portion l9 and the tapered thinning of its forward edge are in keeping with average practice in the manufacture of well-known stock arch-supports; the waist 2! of the dummy being preferably somewhat thinner than is customary in "stock arch-supports for the longitudinal arch of the foot and being preferably wholly of leather. A thin body of adhesive, 22, adjacent the forward edge of the dummy, may be used to secure it normally to the insole or sole-lining of the shoe, for easy-enough removal on occasion.

The desirable construction of dummy i8 here shown comprises a pre-formed leather top piece 24, suitably arched and skived along the inner side of its waist-portion 2|, and with its heelportion underlain by a reeriforcing layer 25, which here is shown as a short metal heel-plate secured to the top piece by rivets 26. Desirably, the forward end of this plate has its inner corner slightly arched upwardly, as at 21, this "corner hump tending to prevent forward slipping of the foot in the shoe; to check any tendency of the wearer to rock to the inner side of the foot in walking; and to prevent displacement of the scaphoidjust back of which the hump exerts its slight pressure.

For purposes having to do with a desirable procedure in making the shoes, the plate is provided with a central tacking-opening 28.

In manufacture of my improved shoes, it is desirable to use the same lasts on which stock shoes are made; the last shown in Fig. 2 being of conventional style having the usual heel-plate 3| to upset the points of the nails for the shoeheel l3.

To give the added depth to the shoe being made, necessary to accommodate the proper dummy arch-support, that particular dummy arch-support which is to constitute a part of the finished shoe may be used, or a substantial counterpart of it; the appropriate lasting-dummy being tacked to the last and the shoe being lasted over it.

In practice, the amount of surplus upper-material that ordinarily is provided before the excess is trimmed away in the manufacturing operation, is ample to accommodate the deepening of the permanent body of the shoe sufficiently to provide a dummy-receptive space or pocket A-A throughout the heel and shank areas of the shoe,

so that, with the dummy in place, the full footreception depth AB, and the last-contours, of the affected area are preserved; and a reduction of height of the shoe-heel I3 is desirably made, to preserve a total height B-C at the rear of the shoe corresponding with the height of stock-shoe for which the naked last is designed.

It will be noted that where the identical dummy arch-support that is intended to be incorporated in the particular shoe being lasted is utilized as the depth-increasing addendum to the last, its heel-plate 25 serves as a nailing plate in the manufacture of the shoe, to upset the ends of the heel-nails; and that such use of the identical dummy insures that the internal contours of the completed shoe Will conform with great precision to that of a stock shoe made over the naked last, so that no change from a favored last and size is needed, on a customers first requirement for arch supports.

In practice, the wearing of a stock archsupport in the pocket A-A that is exposed upon removal of the dummy arch-support, not only goes very far to avoid discomfort to the wearer and malformation of the shoe, whether worn in I both shoes or only one; but also it reacts to further the effectiveness of the corrective appliance itself, particularly by minimizing any tendency of the loosely-inserted stock appliance to work away from proper position in the shoe, a

and by avoiding that slight increase in pitch of the shank of the wearers foot with respect to the ground which follows from the use of stock arch-supports in stock shoes.

I claim:

1. An arch-corrective shoe adapted to permit the wearing, in either of a pair thereof, of a stock arch-support without materially lifting the affected portions of the users foot with respect to the shoe-heel and producing a limp effect, comprising a permanent body having an internal pocket in its heel and shank portions and local to the area that is designed to underlie the foots width from a line just back of the ball of the foot to the rear of the heels undersurface, deepening said portions by a predetermined amount in excess of that required for normal foot-fitting, said pocket depth being throughout the stated area approximately the depth require ment of a stock arch-support that has a thinned front edge and a thicker heel-portion; and a dummy arch-support normally located in but removable from said pocket and of shape and thickness conforming the shoes interior depth and contouring to those which are normal to foot-fitting, stock shoes.

2. An arch-corrective shoe adapted, when worn in pairs, to receive in either thereof without materially lifting the users heel and producing a limp effect, a stock arch-support, comprising a. permanent body having an internal depth in its portion receptive of the below-mentioned dummy that is greater than required for footfitting; and an arch-support dummy approximating at its front and rear ends the depth of average stock arch-supports and plan-contoured to approximately conform to foot-curvatures and to underlie the foot from just back of the ball thereof to the rear of the heel, said dummy being normally located in and filling said excess-depth space of said shoe body and detachably secured in place in said body as part of the merchantable shoe.

3. An arch-corrective shoe adapted, when worn in pairs, to receive in either thereof without materially lifting the users heel and producing a limp effect, a stock arch-support, comprising a. permanent body having an internal depth in its portion receptive of the below-mentioned dummy that is greater than required for footfitting; and an arch-support dummy approximating at its front and rear ends the depth of average stock arch-supports and plan-contoured to approximately conform to foot-curvatures and to underlie the foot from just back of the ball thereof to the rear of the heel, saida dummy being normally located in and filling said excess-depth space of said shoe body and detachably secured in place in said body as part of the merchantable shoe, the forward edge of said dummy being skived to merge smoothly into the permanent sole of the shoe and its heelportion being approximately .125 of an inch thick.

WILLIAM M. SCHOLL. 

